Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office has told the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to look into its truck washing protocols in light of an ongoing record outbreak of a virulent pig disease in Manitoba.

“We want to ensure we have very effective and efficient transportation protocols in place to protect livestock,” MacAulay’s office said in a statement issued Wednesday.

“Officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have been instructed to sit down with provincial counterparts to explore potential solutions related to washing trucks that cross the border.

“CFIA officials will be discussing options and working out the details with the province and industry in the coming months.”

Manitoba hog producers have been grappling with a deadly outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PEDv) – a fast-moving virus that can wipe out entire barns overnight. The virus, which causes diarrhea and severe dehydration in swine, is often fatal to newborn piglets under 10 days of age.

PEDv cannot be transmitted to humans or other animals. It is not a food safety risk.

Provincial officials have confirmed 18 cases of PEDv have been found in Manitoba since May 2. Prior to that, no cases of the virus had been found in the province since late September. Manitoba Agriculture has told producers to increase their on-farm biosecurity measures to protect their herds.

Producers who suspect their barns have been infected with PEDv are being told to notify their local veterinarians immediately.

The CFIA halted an emergency truck washing protocol in May 2016 that forced American swine transport trucks to be disinfected in Canada. The protocol, issued in 2014, was put in place at the height of an ongoing outbreak of the virus in Ontario and the United States. Officials suspected the virus entered Canada via contaminated manure.

Farmers argued the reversal of those standards would put hogs and piglets at risk because many American truck washing stations recycle the water used — a practice they argued could help spread the virus.

Manitoba Pork called the CFIA’s decision on truck washing “a crisis moment for the Canadian swine industry.”

MacAulay insisted at the time the protocol was an “emergency measure” that was no longer required.

“Following a scientific review, the CFIA determined that no emergency measures were need … It’s a health issue – if I was to overrule the CFIA and they indicate to me that it’s for the protection of the industry, I can’t do that,” he said in an 2015 interview with iPolitics.

“CFIA and their officials — and I don’t believe that they would mislead me — they tell me there’s no problem with the water and that it’s a health issue to bring the trucks in not washed.”

The minister’s office did not say Wednesday whether an interim truck washing protocol would be put in place in Manitoba ahead of the pending provincial-federal talks. MacAulay’s office will continue to monitor the evolving situation in Manitoba. The minister and his provincial counterpart, Ralph Eichler, discussed the outbreak when the two met in Ottawa for a federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers meeting in May.

The House agriculture committee will be briefed on the ongoing Manitoba outbreak by Canada’s Chief Veterinarian Harpreet Kochhar on Thursday morning. The Manitoba Pork Council, Maple Leaf Foods and a livestock transportation company are also scheduled to testify.